


me, too

by boatandcompass



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, First Kiss, M/M, Oneshot, The X Factor Era, the same rules apply i guess, this is only rated teen & up bc harry says fucking once, you can have a pg13 movie with the word fucking in it right?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 11:51:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4390805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boatandcompass/pseuds/boatandcompass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry has a nightmare and Louis promised to be there for him</p>
            </blockquote>





	me, too

**Author's Note:**

> fair warning that this oneshot was the product of me thinking, "hey wouldn't it be cute if this happened?" and then writing it out within the time span of an hour. but it's cute i promise. also i'm like 99.9% sure this or a version of this actually happened.
> 
> EDIT: I wrote this a long time ago and I am not proud of it anymore. I've come very far in my journey with learning "how to write" for lack of a better term, and I feel that this work does not represent that. However, I'm not going to delete it because a small few people did actually like it and I'm not going to take it away from them. Feel free to read it if you want because it isn't absolutely terrible, but just know this is not my best work. Expect better and longer fics from me in the future; I have several things being drafted.

Louis hasn’t a very good night’s sleep since he started living in the X Factor house. Rehearsals began early in the morning and ran late into the evening on most days, and it probably didn’t help that he’s had problems with insomnia for as long as he can remember. He’s aching for even just a moment’s rest, but whenever a moment arrives his eyes just cannot stay closed. Thankfully, a week or two into the competition, rehearsals became such a certain breed of torturous that Louis is the perfect amount of exhausted when they return back to their bunks at night.

It’s during his first good sleep in his awful, top-bunk bed that Louis wakes to a hand prodding him in the back.

“Louis? Louis are you awake? Louis please wake up.”

He flops over to face the voice, and opens his eyes and his mouth in preparation to whisper-scream at whoever had rudely woken him, but—

He sees Harry peering at him from behind the bed rails. And he’s… crying?

Louis stares at him for a second trying to see the rest of him in the almost complete darkness of the room. He realizes that he must not have changed his face from the ‘I’m going to kill you for waking me up’ look when Harry gasps for breath.

“I’m sorry, Louis, I’m sorry. I just—“

“Hey,” Louis interrupts him, his voice raw from sleep. “It’s okay, you’re okay,” He notices Harry’s hand clutching tightly to the edge of the bed and he places his hand on top of it, dragging his thumb across Harry’s wrist. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

Harry sniffles and Louis sees him shut his eyes tightly. “I—I had a nightmare,” he shudders, “and,” He chokes out a sob, then, which makes Louis hold onto him tighter. “I don’t know. I remember you told me if I needed anything to come to you,”

“Of course,” Louis reaches over to him with his other hand and nests it in his curls. “Do you want to stay with me? Would that make you feel better?”

Harry nods, and Louis immediately shoves himself to the back of the bunk and lifts the duvet to invite him to lie beside him. Harry clambers up and over the bed rails and tucks himself into Louis’ side while Louis protectively curls around him, Harry’s head on Louis’ chest and Louis’ leg wrapped over Harry’s hip. Once they’re comfortably tangled together and the bed stops creaking from their movement, Harry falls apart.

He clutches tightly to Louis’ shirt and _sobs._ His face crushes into the space between Louis’ collar bone and his neck, so little distance between them that Louis feels Harry’s teeth grazing his shoulder along with his tears. Louis sets his chin on top of Harry’s head and rocks him back and forth, murmuring nonsense to try and soothe him. He’s noisy, and he runs the risk of waking the other boys the louder he gets. Louis takes Harry’s head in his hands and pulls him a tiny distance away from his chest so he can see his face, but Harry refuses to meet his gaze and instead stares at the mess he’d made of Louis’ shoulder.

“Harry, will you look at me, darling?” Louis thumbs over Harry’s temple until he looks up at him.

Even through the darkness of the room, Louis can see how utterly wrecked Harry is. His eyes are glassy and swollen; no doubt they’re a deep shade of red as well. He has visible tear tracks from the corners of his eyes but the stains on his cheeks are muddled from Louis’ shirt. His nose is running and puffy, and his lips are parted with drool all over the bottom of his face and his chin. He’s slick with sweat, and every inch of him is trembling. It breaks Louis’ heart.

Harry must see that, because his bottom lip begins to quiver.

“No, no, no. It’s okay, Harry, it’s okay,” Louis says, hugging Harry into him with the leg he has draped over his back. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you. I’m just going to clean you up a bit, okay?” He runs a hand through Harry’s hair and offers him a smile.

“Okay,” Harry chokes.

Louis yanks the sleeve of his shirt over the heel of his hand and his thumb and gently brings his hand to Harry’s eyes. He sets to work drying his face, dragging the sleeve of his shirt from Harry’s eyes to the tip of his chin, telling himself this will somehow comfort Harry however useless it is.

“I’m sorry,” Harry says as he continues to cry. “I know you want me to stop.”

“No I don’t. You can cry if you need to,” Louis catches another tear in his shirtsleeve. “I want help you.”

Harry squints and purses his lip.

Louis frowns, taking his sleeve away. “Is this helping?” He asks honestly. “I’ll stop if it’s not.”

Harry shakes his head. “Will you just hold me?”

Louis lets go of his sleeve and hugs Harry as tightly as he can. Harry returns his head to Louis’ shoulder and Louis buries his head in his hair. They lay like that, breathing each other in. Harry does not let up on his tears; they somehow seem to get worse. Louis only holds him tighter, knotting a hand in his curls and chasing circles with the other around his back.

“Harry,” Louis says after a while. “Do you want to tell me about your nightmare?”

Harry stops shaking very briefly. “My mum died,” he tenses and tightens his grasp on Louis’ middle. “But I was here and they wouldn’t let me leave to see her.”

Louis stares at him. Harry’s mum is his best friend, and this was the first time he had been away from home for longer than a few days. He calls home nearly every day and he writes letters whenever he gets the chance. He’s the most prone to homesickness, and now he’s ailing with it horribly.

“You miss her, don’t you?” Louis says.

Harry’s entire body convulses.

Louis steadies him. “I know, love. You’re okay.” Harry pushes himself into Louis and Louis curls around him even tighter.

“God, I’m so embarrassing.” He sniffs into Louis’ shoulder. “I can’t go a few days away from home without crying for my fucking mummy.”

“Hey,” Louis kisses him on the top of his head. “It’s not shameful, Harry. We all miss home.”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen any of you crying about it,” Harry balls up the fabric of Louis’ shirt in his hands.

Louis smiles at him. “I’ll be sure to come to you if I ever do, right?”

Harry curls one corner of his mouth up before letting out another cry. “You’re sweet.”

Louis embraces him and rocks him a little. “You’re sweeter.” He looks down at Harry and wipes away a teardrop resting on his cheek. “I’m glad I’ve got you.”

“Me, too,” Harry cranes himself up until he’s eye to eye with him. “I like being near you.”

They gaze into each other’s eyes for just a brief second, smiling despite the moment they’ve just had. Louis leans in and kisses him, kissing tears and homesickness and sadness away, leaving the sweetness that is just _Harry,_ and he’s everything Louis imagined he would be.

“Me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> tumblr: scruffypuppylou


End file.
